Wednesday, March 31, 2010

On March 24, 2010, a select number of film critics and professionals met in New York (at the house of Judy Man, blogger - La Grande Enchilada) to record the first-ever TropiCast podcast. The group chose the Best Latin American Films of the Decade list as a topic. As you may know, the list was an initiative of DiazFilm and Cinema Tropical and it was picked up by numerous media outlets in the U.S. and abroad in late 2009. The topic sparked a terrific discussion - a must for anyone interested in current trends in Latin American cinema and in its burgeoning auteurs.

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Mario Diaz

About Me/This Blog

I was going through the blog list on indiewire.com (a daily ritual) when it dawned on me that I had never seen any blogs that focused on Latino filmmaking... so I decided to start one.

Originally from Puerto Rico but now living in New York, I am primarily a documentary film editor who has also dabbled in directing (mostly docs) and producing (syndicated television and web series). Here's my imdb page and my online reel.

My taste in film is pretty eclectic. I'll watch anything - from Todd Philips to Aleksandr Sokurov. So even though this site is dedicated to Latino film fare please note that it's just a starting point. I may start writing about, say, Sebastián Silva's "La Nana" ("The Maid") and end up discussing Bergman's "Persona" (I actually see similarities between them!).

The thing is, I'm not getting paid for this so I can write about wherever my mind takes me. But also, it would be stupid and shortsighted of me to write about Latino filmmaking as a monolithic movement. Latin America is made up of 26 countries, all of which produce wildly different types of films. Therefore, Latino filmmaking deserves to be seen in a larger context and, of course, included in discussions of film as a whole. So that's what I'll try to do, expand the conversation.

ESSENTIAL LINKS

RANDOM THOUGHTS

- I like Daniel Burman's films, so what? If he was working in Hollywood in the mid-80's - when his particular style of dramas were in vogue - he'd be winning Oscars left and right.

- While watching the incredible documentary "The Garden," I got to thinking: What's the best Latino-themed film made by a non-Latino. "Raising Victor Vargas" would definitely be in the list but other than "The Garden" I can't think of any others. I have to write a column about this soon.

- I know there's a glut of film festivals out there but we need a Latin American documentary festival somewhere close to North America. I nominate Puerto Rico as the host country (yes, country!). You know what - maybe I'll start it myself now that I'm an "influential" blog writer :-) Why not?

- Junot Díaz and Alex Rivera can do much better than their latest book/film.

- Why are Mexican filmmakers so obsessed with making films that feature 3 interconnecting stories?

- I hate it when so-called film enthusiasts watch an arthouse film and then rate it according to Hollywood standards. This is the kind of thing I've heard: "It had some wonderful moments but overall I think it was too slow. The third act dragged on too long." Do you think Hsiao-hsien Hou thinks about the three-act structure when making his movies? Probably not. So why not accept the movie on its own terms? The problem is that Hollywood has spoon-fed us for far too long and this significantly influences the way we judge films, whether we realize it or not.